top
International
International
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Congress Passes Somalia Debt Relief

by Kate Zeller
As part of the Federal government's year-end spending package or "minibus," Congress passed the first phase of debt relief for Somalia.
As part of the Federal government's year-end spending package or "minibus," Congress passed the first phase of debt relief for Somalia. On Tuesday the House of Representatives passed the DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act of 2019 (HR 1158) which included $35 million to begin paying the principle of $1.1 billion in US held debt. On Wednesday the Senate passed the companion legislation (S 135) which sends the bill to the President to be signed into law.

"Debt relief for Somalia cannot come soon enough," stated Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. "Without relieving Somalia's debt, Somalia is unable to finance infrastructure and recover from war, natural disasters or famines."

The Human Development Index ranks Somalia among the 5 least developed countries on earth. Possibly the poorest country on the African continent, Somalia has a 73% extreme poverty rate.

"Canceling Somalia's debt could mean women's empowerment, kids going back to school and moving forward measures to end extreme poverty," noted LeCompte who serves on United Nations debt expert groups. "If President Trump signs the spending package, the US Treasury and State Departments are authorized to move forward the first phase of debt relief for the African country."

Somalia owes about $4.6 billion in debt. The United States is the largest creditor holding $1.1 billion in Somalia debt. The majority of the remainder of the debt is held by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, France and Italy.
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network